I grew up in Logan, West Virginia. Most of my stories are about my childhood but I write about anything that I feel like writing about.
I have been posting some great pictures that I found at my Granny Brennan's house - some of them from the turn of the century

Thursday, January 27, 2011

"Pam, you can't be sleeping. Pay attention to what the Lady's saying!"

When I was in high school the health department ruled that women who cooked for their church bake sales had to have a food handler's card. My Granny Farley and Aunt Mary Ann never missed such a sale. Their church was their life and they did everything they could to support it. Granny's chicken and dumplings and Mary Ann's cakes were always the first to sell out at every sale.

The problem with this ruling was that my granny could only see out of 1/2 of one eye (due to surgery for a brain tumor) and my Aunt Mary Ann is retarded. They could not take the test that the health department gave. They both, of course, kept clean kitchens and there was no reason for them not to cook other than government paperwork. So my family decided that I would go to the health department and take the test for them.

We all met at the health department for the test and the room was full of people. I escorted my Granny and Mary Ann to the back of the classroom so that we would not be observed. We sat through the whole boring lecture. Actually I was trying to sleep through the whole lecture when my Granny reached over and poked me hard in the side. She said, "Pam! You can't be sleeping. You've got to pay attention to what this lady's saying."

I growled back half asleep, "Granny, I don't need to listen to this lady, Mommy has spent half my life drilling this stuff in my head!" (my mom was studying to be a dietician) "It will be just fine, " I told her. But I did sit up out of respect for my Grandma and made a monumental effort to stay awake for the rest of the lecture.

When the woman finished she handed out the tests. I took my test first and gave myself 100 points. I took Granny's test and I made sure she got a high B. Then I took Mary Ann's test and I made sure that she just barely passed. That way nobody would suspect what I had done. I told Granny to wait 5 minutes after I left and pretend that she was still taking the test. Then I left and we all met at the 10 cent store for lunch, which was my Granny's favorite place to eat.

I can honestly say that this is the only dishonest thing that my Granny ever did in her life. it was for the church afterall.